We rolled into Tibooburra in the far North West of NSW...actually, Tibooburra has the distinction of being the most remote town in NSW and it is also has a lot of history with Charles Sturt the famous explorer who led the expedition into Central OZ in search of the Great Inland Sea. They figured that the River Murray that flowed into the Southern Ocean must have been fed by a large inland sea because of the volume of water that it carried. So Sturt set off with wagons loaded with provisions and boats on top of the wagons so he could explore the inland sea when he got there. Well, we all know how the Murray River has it's headwater in the melting snow of the Snowy mountains and is also fed down stream by all the Queensland rivers that flow into the Darling. Back then though all this was yet to be discovered....so "let's load those boats on lads"......Actually, the inland sea did exist, however they were a few millions years too late to sail a boat on it. Lake Eyre is the lowest point of what remains of the inland sea and is currently around 50 feet below sea level these days. So why am I mentioning this??? Well, Sturt got to about where Tibooburra is today and endured a severe drought in this desert region and so he set up a camp at Fort Grey to wait for the wet season so he could continue on........now the fine folk of Tibooburra have erected a monument to Sturt in the shape of a whopping big pole with a boat on top of it for all to see. You have to be able to see the irony of that....Tibooburra also has an amazing landscape as it is a town built in amongst and surrounded by giant granite rocky outcrops and outside this the country is flat dry semi arid desert......

There is a caravan park in Tibooburra, but we had heard so much about Dead Horse Gully being such a nice camping spot that we thought we'd try it out. Well, had it been a little earlier in the day we would have headed towards Milparinka and found a few nice dry creek beds with the usual stands of trees which would have been a much more enjoyable camp for us...and free too. It cost us $10.00 to park at Dead Horse Gully and we couldn't have a campfire...so we will know better next time. For those who need a toilet block and don't want to stay at the local van park then Dead Horse Gully is about 3 k's North of Tibooburra.

Shearers Camp at Mt Browne Station

Quarters with hot water donkey at the rear.

After yet another sumptuous Brekkie in the Bush, we headed South to Milparinka....the road was a mixture of wide bitumen and wide corrugated outback road....and yes we did pass a few nice dry creek bed camps....oh well.... Milparinka is a Ghost Town from the early gold mining days, but make sure you stop in at the Pub..... what a boomer of an outback pub. Great old world warm hospitality feel to it and would you believe a huge fish pond in the lounge. Have a meal at the bar with cold beer...just great. They even had the fireplace lit...so you'd be warm enough to have a beer in the winter......up there for thinkin'.....

As it turned out there was group of 4 and another couple in the pub when we pulled up and the group of 4 were heading out to Mt Browne Station as we were. They weren't interested in fossicking for gold as we were, but one of the ladies used to own the property many years ago and they were all going to camp for a few days on their way West. So we followed them out. Mt Browne is a working sheep property and when we were there the owners were getting ready to shear 5000 sheep. The owners are great folks and will allow camping on their place for free...however if you are using a metal detector, they charge $10.00 per detector per day. This can be paid at the Milparinka Pub, where you can also get a mud map on how to get there from the pub. We camped at the woolshed which is also the site of the old homestead which is now a ruin. Facilities at the woolshed include a couple of flush toilets and an old laundry, a clothes line, hot water from a donkey and a kitchen with a fireplace. There are some basic shearers quarters too. These came in handy for a couple of prospectors who were swagging it under a tarp when the wind blew a gale for a few days....all that dust.... There is also plenty of good bore water from a tap which helps to feed our ensuite shower in the Bushtracker...how good is that???

We were going to have a few days here, but that turned into a week......yeah "TIME"...it's a four letter word. Well, we did give the metal detector a go....read on....